Devotional - Groveland Missionary Church

October 7

Posted on Oct 8, 2024 in Devotions |

Just got word that Pastor Marvin and Sue will not be moving this week as planned. The plumbing in the apartment they were going to move into needs a bit more time to be ready for them. So they will be sticking around until mid November now. So if you did not get a chance to say goodbye to them on Sunday, you may be able to get another chance this month.

September 30

Posted on Oct 2, 2024 in Devotions |

Sowers sow. What punctuation would you put at the end of that sentence? Is that just a statement with a period to you? Or would you put an exclamation point and make it a command? Or is it still just a question in your mind? How you answer that question tells me a lot about how you view the parable we looked at Sunday. So Sowers Sow.

September 23

Posted on Sep 23, 2024 in Devotions |

You can be lost without knowing it. You can be lost and do not know the way back. You can be lost and ready to return. And you can be lost and refusing to return. Wherever you are at, God is looking for you. He wants to be found. Sometimes that means he will search diligently for you. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will speak to you. And sometimes God is just waiting with open arms ready to love you fully. Do not turn your back on God. Fall into his ever-loving arms and experience the grace that only he can give. God loves and cares deeply for lost things.

September 16

Posted on Sep 16, 2024 in Devotions |

Until this week, I never thought about how the parable of the Good Samaritan is a picture of Jesus. Like the despised Samaritan, he was despised and rejected. And he reached out to those who hated him and brought us back to health. You see, Satan had robbed us and left us half dead. And we would have died if left out on that barren road. But along came Jesus and he took care of our needs and paid the price for our life. So now when ever you read the story of the Good Samaritan, you can also thank God for our Great Samaritan- Jesus.

September 9

Posted on Sep 9, 2024 in Devotions |

This week in our area there is a huge festival celebrating pumpkins. Yes, you read that right. Actually Morton, IL is the known as the pumpkin capital of the world. Somewhere around 75% of all the pumpkin pie filling sold by Libby’s in America is made in Morton. And so for 4 days each year, they celebrate everything pumpkins.

Speaking of celebrating, God is always at work in each of our lives. From small blessings to large prayer requests answered, God is doing things in your life. Take time this week to celebrate what God is doing right now with you. And feasting with a piece of pumpkin pie might just put you in a thankful mood for God’s blessings.

September 2

Posted on Sep 3, 2024 in Devotions |

Labor day is a day that we rest from our labors. Even Jesus took a break from his ministry every now and then to refuel and recharge. And if Jesus needed it, we too need it. So take some time today to not just rest but allow God to refuel and recharge you.

August 26

Posted on Aug 26, 2024 in Devotions |

I already posted this last week, but I want to do another quick one on this Monday as usual. As elections are drawing nearer, we are often bombarded with deciding who would be better to choose from. During our Bible reading this week, I came across a reading that might help. It is from Psalm 118:8-9 which says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.” So trust God to lead you to who would be best to lead this land.

August 23

Posted on Aug 23, 2024 in Devotions |

I normally would not do this and I want to preface everything I am writing below as purely personal. I am also writing this special devotional on Friday because I do not want to wait until Sunday.

The Democrats have just finished their DNC in Chicago this week and I was horrified how hard they pressed into legitimizing killing babies. Sure they couched it in “reproductive freedom” ,”something between a woman and her doctor”, “personal autonomy”, “women’s health”, and other clever euphemisms. But the bottom line is clear. They are all in on murdering in cold blood any and all babies they deem unworthy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Despite their “patriotism” and championing women’s causes, they want to deprive the most innocent among us of the same freedoms they so boldly claim for themselves. Killing babies is not freedom. Killing babies is criminal and should be treated as such for both the woman and her doctor. It should be legislated against in this country in the same way and with the same consequences of first degree, premeditated, cold blooded murder. Because that is what it is. But more than half the country have now been convinced that unborn babies do not have rights and can be freely killed with no consequences or regrets. We are becoming a culture that accepts killing among us. And they wonder why some teenagers can be so “heartless” to commit mass school shootings. Is it any wonder that the black population (which unfortunately has the highest poverty and crime rates), is killing each other in the streets when Planned Parenthood targets that same population with abortions? And yet no one makes that connection between these statistics? When you promote a culture of killing and death, the result is going to be more killing and death.

All of this was brought to a head when I read this opinion article by Jim Daly. Jim is the president of Focus on the Family. And today he wrote a great article about this. I would encourage you to read it here.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dncs-death-culture-obsession-main-message-from-chicago-week.

He was just as disgusted as I was at the blatant disregard for human life on display in Chicago this week. Like me, he found all the euphemisms for murdering babies appalling. Just think how different the convention would be if every time they said reproductive freedom, they said killing the unborn. If, instead of a woman’s right to choose, they said removing a baby’s right to live. Instead of freedom, they said death. Instead of abortion, they called it what it actually is, murdering an innocent life. A baby is not just a glob if unwanted tissue like a form of cancer that needs to be excised from a woman’s body, but future life that given just a bit of time will grow into a sentient and valuable member of society. And yet the DNC treated abortion as if it were fun. One line from the above article hit home with me when it said, “Reducing the killing of innocent children to a carnival-like attraction reflects the escalation of a crass and cavalier attitude toward innocent life.” How true and how sad. Killing is like a carnival ride that everyone has the “right” to take.

I also find it ironic that the same group that claims to want to protect woman’s rights, takes those rights away from women if they are still in a womb. What about their rights? What about their protection? What about their life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Don’t they count too? People do not have the choice to choose to murder anyone else in our culture, why do we have the choice if they are simply not yet developed enough to walk and talk? Murder is murder. Life is still life. This is another reason why even the “exceptions” to abortion (rape, incest, life of mother) also are not justified in killing a baby. It is a baby not just a fetus (or other nebulous term). It is life. Remember too the Democrats are supposedly the party of “science”. Yet they deny the science about when a baby is alive. They do not want to know when brain waves start or the heart starts beating or when they can start feeling pain. Most of this actually takes place before the mother even misses a period or realizes she is even pregnant. They deny these things because they just want to get rid of the “inconvenience”. But a baby is not an inconvenience as inconvenient as caring for a new life might be. It is a life. A God-made, God-designed, God-planned life. They may interfere with our plans, and make our lives more complicated, but that is no excuse to commit murder.

I close this long rant with a passage of scripture from Deuteronomy, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” (30:19)

August 19

Posted on Aug 19, 2024 in Devotions |

Money does talk. And as I asked during the service, what is it saying about you? Is it protesting that you are hanging on too much of it? It it crying out that you have not been generous and giving too little to people? Or will it say that you are being a wise steward of the material possessions God has entrusted you with? I hope that we will take another look at what our money will one day say in God’s presence. May he find it pleasing in his sight.

August 12

Posted on Aug 12, 2024 in Devotions |

I cannot predict the future. And the nature of the book of Revelation prevents me from forming a definite time line. However, I do know what God wants me to do today. And that is to continue to seek him and to do his will. I will pray and read scripture and ask his Spirit to lead me each step. This is what God is asking for all his children. To lift up or prayer as Jesus did in the garden, “Not my will but Yours be done”.